This invention relates to disposable body electrodes, a cable set, and a junction box, all for use in making electrical body measurements.
Electrocardiogram (ECG) and electroencephalogram (EEG) measurements are important medical diagnostic procedures. Typically they involve the simultaneous application of disposable electrodes to several different body locations or groups of body locations, and the connection of these electrodes through suitable leads to ECG or EEG measuring equipment a short distance away.
In the past, disposable body electrodes used for such purposes have employed metal terminals for connection to the ECG leads. In many instances the metal used has been silver or some other expensive material. It is uneconomical for metals, and particularly precious metals, to be wasted in an electrode which is to be disposed of after a single use.
In taking an ECG it is usually necessary to apply electrodes to six different chest locations, as well as to four additional body locations, i.e. both arms and both legs; a total of ten locations and ten electrodes. In the past each of these ten electrodes has been connected to the ECG equipment by its own individual shielded lead. The use of ten discrete leads has proved somewhat inconvenient from two standpoints. First, the ECG technician is required to make ten separate plug connections to the ECG machine, which is time-consuming. Second, the ten individual leads have a tendency to become entangled with each other during use.
In other areas of electronic technology it is conventional for a plurality of leads to be grouped into a single unitary cable which terminates in a single connector. It is also conventional in other areas to make cables in a flat, flexible configuration, for example through the use of printed circuit manufacturing techniques. But so far as is known, no one has designed a single unitary cable of this kind specifically for use in ECG procedures and other types of body measurements.
This invention provides a completely metal-free disposable body electrode.
It also adapts the unitary cable and connector concept to the specific problem of taking medical measurements simultaneously from several body locations or groups of body locations. Such a cable resists entanglement, and such a connector permits connection of a plurality of leads in a single operation.
In addition this invention provides a specific flat, flexible printed circuit cable and connector structure and a compatible junction box assembly for use in making such measurements, both of which are inexpensive to manufacture and convenient to use. The junction box is also provided with clamping means which overcome any tendency of the printed circuit connector to slip out of the junction box.